Ridgeacre branch

[AMModels]

The cast iron bridge over the little arm about half way along the branch? The junction under it was used for winding on the protest cruise before we all reversed to the end for the speeches , looking at the map it is now a car park for the Ridgeacre pub which can be seen from the BC route.

[Laurence Hogg]

Not sure which "Protest cruise" you are talking about. First ones went right to the limit where the branch swung to the right and W H Keys works was there with a couple of sunken tank boats, latter ones terminated from memory in the remnants of the Balls Hill branch, this contained the entrance to the interchange basin (now restored and ended at the first bridge which was a railway one (this completely obliterated here). The junction of the Balls Hill is now under the eastern lane of the dual carriageway, the pub car park eastern end is over the canal that was.

 

The canal was massivly polluted and in 1970 caught fire at the top end, you can see the tank boats in the pcture:

 

 

Despite protests by the BCNS no one used the canal and it seldom saw a boat in the intervening years, "use it or lose it"

this typical protest in 1971 acheived nothing.

 

 

As to where the bridge went? I have no idea, try Cashmores!

Edited October 28, 2012 by Laurence Hogg

[Hairy-Neil]

Someone had put up a sign the last time I was on the Wednesbury Old Canal? (IIRC that's the correct name for the surviving navigable? bit). Having proved it was navigable by making it to the end, we winded our 70ft boat around and escaped again to the main line whence I 'borrowed' the sign so as not to deter any other intrepid boaters from doing the same.

 

[pearley]

We went up there twice in the 80s before the Spine Road was built, on the first occasion staying overnight, on the second time breaking a tooth whilst having lunch. Tried to go again in 2000 but only got about 200 yards before the prop was badly fouled and evil smelling black muck was being dragged up from the bottom. Ended up pulling the boat back to the junction by rope.

 

Will be heading to Walsall and Brownhills after the BCN Bonfire Rally but won't be trying the arm again.

 

Regards

Pete

[Laurence Hogg]

Someone had put up a sign the last time I was on the Wednesbury Old Canal? (IIRC that's the correct name for the surviving navigable? bit). Having proved it was navigable by making it to the end, we winded our 70ft boat around and escaped again to the main line whence I 'borrowed' the sign so as not to deter any other intrepid boaters from doing the same.

 

 

Its the Wednesbury old canal as far as Swan Village its then filled in.

The sign was put there for a very important purpose, the canal is heavily polluted with stuff which came from dye works that lined its banks, if you stir it up it de oxygenates the water and kills the fish, totally irresponsible to remove the notice, although it should have been more "official". Dont know when this was but there was a number of times in the recent past when this fish kill was reported.

 

Way back when I was working in the labs at Uni of Wolverhampton (then Polytechnic) we analysed the black silt from the Ridgeacre entrance, what we found was pretty bad stuff, there were heavy metals, the lot, and that was in the early 1970's. Sadly it is not a good place to go and dredging would cost a fortune.

[AMModels]

It was a "Protest Cruise", as you termed it, about the blocking of the branch with the building of the BCR to link M6 J10-M5 J2, we all made our way right to the end of the arm below the Express and Star printing works in Black Lake where speeches were made by BCNS, IWA and others. It was seen as important to show the BCN was still important to people and that sections of it couldnt be closed without consultation and discussion, unfortunately thats exactly what happened with the branch.

We knew that by the time the protest was made there was little to no chance of changing things as the Route was backed by the Govt and its back pocket minions but it was probably more boats that had travelled down the branch since the 50s and did show that the BCN mattered to boaters. This was after planning permission had been granted on provision that a navigable bridge was built in the location, BCDC said that as less than 9 boats had been there in the past 12 months they didnt have to, about 50 of us went up to prove them wrong but it was too late and the arm was lost.

 

It was 1992

 

The Black Country Spine Road was also planned to cut off the Ridgacre Branch of the Birmingham Canal Navigations, and about 50 boats took part in a protest cruise, but part of the branch was closed in November.

 

IWA footnote

 

 

original planning permission

 

Looks like it was around the junction for the Balls Hill branch but I recall it was a pretty barren landscape with at least 2 bridges nr the junction we winded in and one was a long span cast iron bridge similar to Horseley Ironworks style bridges.

 

 

Hope thats clear enough for everyone.

[Laurence Hogg]

 

It was 1992

 

Looks like it was around the junction for the Balls Hill branch but I recall it was a pretty barren landscape with at least 2 bridges nr the junction we winded in and one was a long span cast iron bridge similar to Horseley Ironworks style bridges.

 

 

 

The longer bridge survives over the interchange basin mouth, the basin was fully restored, even has mooring rings, nice pub too, great if you can "portage" your boat over the A41 !!!!

[AMModels]

Brilliant, cheers for that, will have to try and get over for a photo session sometime.

 

[Speedwheel]

Its the Wednesbury old canal as far as Swan Village its then filled in.

The sign was put there for a very important purpose, the canal is heavily polluted with stuff which came from dye works that lined its banks, if you stir it up it de oxygenates the water and kills the fish, totally irresponsible to remove the notice, although it should have been more "official". Dont know when this was but there was a number of times in the recent past when this fish kill was reported.

 

So are you saying boats shouldn't use it?

[RLWP]

Judging by how it was in 2009, I suspect that boats cannot use it any more

 

Richard

[Laurence Hogg]

So are you saying boats shouldn't use it?

I wouldnt advise anyone to go up there under power.

I expect it will be closed off in the near future due to the pollution problems there. Its a shame as the first bit is quite original industrial canal but then at the end there is just the winding hole and nothing except a vandal proof steel bench to admire the A41 from. getting to the pub over the spine road can be challenging to say the least.

This is the classic "Use it or lose it" case. The Ridgeacre itself now is quite nice, pity people didnt venture up it more often before 1990.

Edited October 28, 2012 by Laurence Hogg

[the grinch]

 

The sign was put there for a very important purpose, the canal is heavily polluted with stuff which came from dye works that lined its banks, if you stir it up it de oxygenates the water and kills the fish, totally irresponsible to remove the notice, although it should have been more "official". Dont know when this was but there was a number of times in the recent past when this fish kill was reported.

 

 

 

so it's ok to have a healily polluted canal and heaven forbid someone might actually use the stagnant ditch. Sorry but i totally dissagree lets see more boats there stirring it up then maybe the powers that be will be forced to deal with the problem not leave it there!!

[Laurence Hogg]

so it's ok to have a healily polluted canal and heaven forbid someone might actually use the stagnant ditch. Sorry but i totally dissagree lets see more boats there stirring it up then maybe the powers that be will be forced to deal with the problem not leave it there!!

 

Stop and think for a minute. Its not OK to have this pollution but when the finance is available it will be sorted, its not Ok to have boats going up half a mile of canal stirring up pollution and wiping out fish stocks. Until CRT or the local authority do something constructive with this stub end there is no point in encouraging more problems. Dont forget the arm connects to the Walsall at the top of Ryders green locks so any pollution quickly spreads. I wouldnt advocate closing off any part of the BCN but sensible use and precautions are needed in this case. Cannot understand why CRT havent shut it off.

[Speedwheel]

Stop and think for a minute. Its not OK to have this pollution but when the finance is available it will be sorted, its not Ok to have boats going up half a mile of canal stirring up pollution and wiping out fish stocks. Until CRT or the local authority do something constructive with this stub end there is no point in encouraging more problems. Dont forget the arm connects to the Walsall at the top of Ryders green locks so any pollution quickly spreads. I wouldnt advocate closing off any part of the BCN but sensible use and precautions are needed in this case. Cannot understand why CRT havent shut it off.

 

So has something changed or new info come to light since last year?

 

The pollution in the WOC is a serious issue, however if boated carefully then there isnt a problem. Most of the culprits are long gone, even Robinsons have now gone, (thank god) as there was a profusion of dye works close to the junction. The loss of the Ridgeacre was simply down to boats not going there and some sort of deal with BW when the Black Country route was built. It is sheer madness that we have a canalside pub, restored basin seperated by a very busy dual carriageway, planning at its worst but there again its in Sandwell (say no more). A small portable boat can use the Ridgeacre and I am suprised this is not encouraged on the BCN Challenge along with other watered but severed arms, ie the Cape loop remains.

[john6767]

From what I have seen, the section between Ryders Green locks and the Main Line is probably the worst part of the BCN, presumably for the same reasons as the Ridgeacre. I would much prefer to see resource applied to cleaning that section up as it provides an important through route, than to the Ridgeare, which as it stands now is just a short stub.

[the grinch]

Stop and think for a minute.

 

no sorry you stop and think a minute, it has now been how many years that this particular problem has been there? it is about time BW/C&RT/whatever they will call themselves next DEALT with IT! the whole reason its polutted is NO ONE will take responsibility and get it treated/removed maybe the Cheif Exec could forgo his bonus for 6 weeks that would probably pay for it!!

 

From what I have seen, the section between Ryders Green locks and the Main Line is probably the worst part of the BCN, presumably for the same reasons as the Ridgeacre. I would much prefer to see resource applied to cleaning that section up as it provides an important through route, than to the Ridgeare, which as it stands now is just a short stub.

 

no point as the whole thing is as you say a cess pit, deal with the problem and then dredge the rest of the canal STARTING with the arm not the mainline.

[AMModels]

I wouldnt advise anyone to go up there under power.

I expect it will be closed off in the near future due to the pollution problems there. Its a shame as the first bit is quite original industrial canal but then at the end there is just the winding hole and nothing except a vandal proof steel bench to admire the A41 from. getting to the pub over the spine road can be challenging to say the least.

This is the classic "Use it or lose it" case. The Ridgeacre itself now is quite nice, pity people didnt venture up it more often before 1990.

 

To be fair pre 1993 it was pretty barren, spoil heaps, rubbish everywhere, the bottom way too close to the top and foul stenches emanating from the canal when it was disturbed; I think it was a case of BW not improving it so that it became less attractive and the less attractive it became the less people used it. It was hamstrung by the remainder tag it got lumbered with.

I know you suggested a number of months ago on CNALSCAPE-BCN, maybe in an agent provocateur manner, that the Walsall canal should maybe considered for abandonment given the locals indifference to its amenity uses other than as a linear rubbish dump but the canal again is suffering in the way the Ridgacre did (except maybe for the stench).

The use it or lose it campaign has its uses but it is also now associated with undesirable sections of canal far too often, maybe we need a new way of popularising the remainder canals of the midlands and the Black Country especially; places like Titford which is an oasis in the middle of an urban sprawl, Walsall town arm which is welcoming (if insecure) and close to a shopping area with a pub right on the doorstep (I make no claims about its quality), Bentley bridge where there is a cinema and bowling complex but above all else we should make the most of the historic attributes of the system; as Laurence has said the BCN had traffic until well into the 70's of one type or another and the concentration of the sites on the canals mean so many can be seen in a small timescale, we need to campaign for more safe mooring spots spread throughout the system to encourage people to visit.

 

Id just like to point out my response has taken me since Laurences post to write so its not in response to anything since the quoted post above.

 

One other thing tho looking on google earth shows the bridge I was talking about has been removed completely, would love to know where it went as it was an ornate and useful bridge which could have been used elsewhere.

Edited October 28, 2012 by AMModels

[Laurence Hogg]

When we did our analysis of the "black tar" that comes up from the bottom the Ridgeacre near to the junction the results were frightening. That was in 1971, today the sane "black tar" will come up coating the end of a shaft, and as indeed Andy points out a foul stench. When we did the anaysis we found Antimony, Arsenic, copper, lead, mercury, chromium all present in not small quantities also there were cyanides, chlorides, phosphorous and a lot of complex compounds, indeed just about every toxic element was present.

 

Imagine getting you prop badly fouled on the Ridgeacre and having to delve into the water, not reccomended!

 

Forty years on I would wager that it is all still there, however if undisturbed it doesnt present an immediate problem. Getting it out would be a complex, dangerous and very expensive task. There are very few sites in the UK that will accept that type of waste. This I believe is why succesive BW managers have not investigated further.

Being a victim in 2002 of a chemical spillage on Ryders Green wasnt pleasant, as we dropped in lock two I was almost overcome by some heavy organic gas I got out of the lock virtually collapsed at the tiller fighting for breath. We had to do the rest of the flight without anyone on the boat in the locks. At the bottom we then boated through a sea of dead and dying fish, on this occasion I believe it was Robinson's who were the culprit but the experience is one you dont want to have.

 

The Walsall was in a bad state, it had reached the point where I did say maybe we should think of an alternative to keeping it open, I did that to shock BW into thinking hard and long about it and the result was an inspection and the dredging which has now been done, however it still doesnt get used and the number of boats this year has been very low. Walsall basin is now far more secure, the new Hotel is well advanced and many people live around the basin in the new apartments. The council has invested millions of pounds in the area but still the basin doesnt have a tap or any "boater" facilities, CRT are aware of this and I look forward to some changes there in the future.

 

The Walsall canal runs through areas where the local population have no real regard for it, Salisbury st Temple continues to dump food waste over the wall and the embankment there now is home to thosands of rats, theres so many rat holes you would think collapse was imminent! Further on into Darlaston and the population there sees the canal as a skip, when its frozen you see rubbish build up by the day, how you change that mind set is beyond me. More boats would help, oddly the Walsall is a deep canal, its only rubbish that impedes progress.

Edited October 28, 2012 by Laurence Hogg

[Hairy-Neil]

Stop and think for a minute. Its not OK to have this pollution but when the finance is available it will be sorted, its not Ok to have boats going up half a mile of canal stirring up pollution and wiping out fish stocks. Until CRT or the local authority do something constructive with this stub end there is no point in encouraging more problems. Dont forget the arm connects to the Walsall at the top of Ryders green locks so any pollution quickly spreads. I wouldnt advocate closing off any part of the BCN but sensible use and precautions are needed in this case. Cannot understand why CRT havent shut it off.

 

If you read the sign again you'll see it refers to the BCN Challenge. I saw its removal after the event as helping the organisers with the post event tidy up....

 

You'd also be naive to believe the polution hasn't alrady spread to the main canal. I was working Atlas & Leo down Ryders Green flight a few years ago and found several pounds empty, but for a trickle up the middle. If it wasn't the same black stinking filth as on the branch, it certainly seemed like it to me.....

[Laurence Hogg]

If you read the sign again you'll see it refers to the BCN Challenge. I saw its removal after the event as helping the organisers with the post event tidy up....

 

You'd also be naive to believe the polution hasn't alrady spread to the main canal. I was working Atlas & Leo down Ryders Green flight a few years ago and found several pounds empty, but for a trickle up the middle. If it wasn't the same black stinking filth as on the branch, it certainly seemed like it to me.....

I think you are right and it is in the lock flight, I have certainly seen the same black oily stuff down there, the dye works were right on the junction so probability is very high, also Robinsons backed on to the flight too.

[RLWP]

The stuff at the bottom of the flight is pretty evil too. Going into reverse for the bottom lock brings up all kinds of oily rubbish

 

I've been down the weedhatch more than once on that flight

 

Richard

[AMModels]

Who are Robinsons and are they still going? Where industrial pollution has taken place in other situations hasnt the industry bodies as a whole contributed towards the clean up costs, Im thinking specifically of mining pollution; surely this could also apply in this case?

[Tacet]

We "navigated" (blissfully unaware of the pollution issue) as much as could be passed in June.

My link

 

The weed now covers the entire canal after a couple of hundred yards from Ryder Green locks. Not an easy reverse back to the junction with the Walsall Canal either, due to the silting-up; it did result in stirring up some some exceptionally noxious substances. The Stourbridge Extension Canal also throws up some very nasty-looking stuff too.

Edited October 28, 2012 by Ian Bingham

[RLWP]

That's pretty much what I expected. In 2009, there was a boat-wide gap through the weed, and enough depth for our 1' 10" draft. Excluding the shopping trolly we fished out from under the bridge by the winding hole.

 

Well, enough depth to get to the end anyway, it required some careful depth checking from the bows to avoid the various reefs and shallows

 

Looks like that bit is now lost to boaters

 

How much of the Stourbridge extension did you do? I was checking that out in a book I have last week

 

Richard

[Laurence Hogg]

Who are Robinsons and are they still going? Where industrial pollution has taken place in other situations hasnt the industry bodies as a whole contributed towards the clean up costs, Im thinking specifically of mining pollution; surely this could also apply in this case?

 

Robinson Bros are chemical manufacturers in West Bromwich. http://www.rbltd.co.uk/

They are referred to here: http://www.environmenttimes.co.uk/news_detail.aspx?news_id=1276

 

and here:

 

http://www.endsreport.com/15297/incredibly-polluting-leaks-cost-chemicals-firm-180k